He suddenly pulled a small knife from his storage bag, reversed the handle, and plunged it into his chest. With a forceful downwards pull, he performed a grotesque act of opening his own abdomen. Spreading his two hands, the slit-open chest and abdomen revealed a blood-covered infant,
"Evil Infant!"
The cultivator who had shot the arrows first froze, then after a closer look, when he realized what it was, it was too late to retreat. The infant that had been hidden within the man's belly suddenly opened its eyes, meeting the cultivator's gaze. Its black eyes, like two deep dark holes, began to slowly rotate, causing the cultivator to stiffen.
"Wah..."
The Blood Infant cried out at the cultivator before him, and that moment sent the arrow-shooting cultivator swaying and plunging down from midair, while during this commotion, the group of five took the chance to attempt their escape in a surge of bloody light. Then, a cold snort was heard,
"Hmph! Still trying to flee!"
A large earthy-yellow hand appeared silently above their heads, and with a gentle grasp, the Yin Evil Five Ghosts were all captured within that immense hand.
"Ah..."
All five let out a shriek of extreme terror. It was unclear what kind of cultivation technique was used to create the hand, but once captured, they felt their Spiritual Power flowing out wildly, like a breached dam. In mere moments, the Spiritual Power inside them vanished without a trace, leaving them as helpless as fish on a chopping board, only able to wait for death with faces filled with horror.
Meanwhile, the smiling young cultivator appeared before them with a flash. The cultivator with the surname Wen quickly flew down, rescued his colleague who had been injured by the Evil Infant's demonic cry, and brought him back to the young cultivator's side,
"Lord Baiwei!"
The young cultivator glanced at them,
"Is Brother Li alright?"
The cultivator surnamed Li replied pallidly,
"I am unharmed, Sir, just caught off guard by the Evil Infant's trick. I have already taken elixirs..."
"Mm!"
The young cultivator nodded and, with hands behind his back, looked over the five people he had captured. His gaze landed on the blood-red infant that was also tightly bound within the belly of the eldest, and he sneered,
"This is not a true Evil Infant. The Yin Evil Sect must have found some flawed cultivation technique from someplace to concoct such an abomination. It was only due to your lack of combat experience that you were tricked by it!"
A genuine Evil Infant requires the consumption of the flesh and blood of over a thousand people, refinement in the underground nether fires for three years, followed by a three-year soak in Nether Water in order to fully develop. The Evil Infant before us has only fed on the blood and flesh of mere mortals and lacks the knowledge of refinement and purification. Against an average cultivator from the Buddhist Sect, it would be exorcised on the spot!
The cultivator surnamed Li, with a reddened face, responded,
"Thank you for your guidance, Sir!"
As the three of them conversed, from the direction of Xuancheng City, ten or so Flight Lights sped toward them. The one leading the group stopped before them, revealing himself as a man with a spiral beard, resembling a Big Han. He clasped his hands and said,
"May I inquire if this is an elder from the Spirit Clearing Guard of Du City?"
The Big Han, possessing only the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, was extremely polite to the young man who had a mid-stage cultivation. The young man replied with a slight smile and a courteous salute,
"I am Situ Xiao of the Spirit Clearing Guard of Du City!"
The Han hurriedly said,
"I am Liu Meng from the Xuancheng City guard..."
This big and robust man had a name that sounded more like a battle-hardened general than a cultivator.
Liu Meng continued,
"Taoist Brother Situ, we have no knowledge of these five's origins or why they have come to create chaos in Xuancheng. What is their purpose?"
Situ Xiao replied,
"These five are the culprits we've been pursuing all the way here. Now that we have captured them, we need to borrow a place from Taoist Liu to interrogate them and learn the full story!"
"In that case, let's go into the city to talk!"
"Good!"
Thus, everyone boarded their Flight Light and sped toward the city. As Situ Xiao's Flight Light passed over the river, his gaze lingered a few moments on a woman among the crowd...
Gu Shi Yi felt a shiver down her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. She dared not look up but instead blended into the crowd on the riverbank, pretending to be one of the onlookers. Only after the Flight Lights had disappeared into the distance did she cautiously lift her head to see they were gone and quietly moved to the back of the crowd.